Infrastructure Development, Concrete Efforts to Anticipate Congestion During Homecoming
By: Elan Puspitasari )*
The decision taken by Jokowi was indeed not free from the criticism in his side, especially if the decision was made ahead of his second election at the time, it is certain that the debate would be difficult to avoid.
Not a few also mentioned Jokowi that infrastructure development such as toll roads is mere political imagery, but the critical tone of contact also needs to be reviewed, because the infrastructure built does not directly provide short-term impact to the people.
“Toll road, because someone submitted it,‘ Sir, we don’t agree with the toll road. We don’t eat toll roads. ’Who does it tell you to eat the highway?” He continued.
Since the beginning Jokowi took office in 2014, the former Mayor of Solo has chosen to focus on building infrastructure. However, there is a budget that must be sacrificed at the beginning, namely the subsidy budget.
He explained, that since Indonesia’s independence only 780 kilometers of toll roads had been built, including Jagorawi Toll Road. This is strange, because infrastructure is a foundation to catch up with other countries.
In 2019, Jokowi was determined to complete the road construction target of 1,854 kilometers this year. He emphasized that infrastructure development will continue with the rest of the existing fiscal year.
“Even though it is far from the target of 2,080 kilometers, we have to pursue better numbers. The infrastructure stage is still running, “he explained.
In 2018, Director of the Transportation Institute, Milatia Kusuma, said that several government infrastructure programs for Joko Widodo (Jokowi) – Jusuf Kalla (JK) were quite successful in reducing congestion during the 2018 homecoming season.
He said, several infrastructure development programs connecting one city to another city were felt to be quite beneficial for travelers. Not only that, in some places the departure of public transport did not occur too densely.
At the end of 2018, the Minister of Transportation (Menhub) Budi Karya Sumadi claimed to be satisfied because during the 2019 Christmas and New Year holidays, there were no issues of congestion and shorter travel times. He also did not deny that the Trans Java toll road inaugurated by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) on December 20, 2018 became a solution to overcome congestion.
In the absence of traffic issues, it means that the connection of the Trans Java toll road is very influential and has a large contribution. In addition, the toll road is also one of the solutions to congestion. Thus the connection of the Jakarta – Surabaya toll road can shorten the travel time compared to when it is still through the arterial road.
One of the residents who welcomed the inauguration of the Trans Java Toll Road was Cyrilla Erma and Magdalena Butar Butar, residents of Ciledug, Tangerang who used the toll road on their way to Yogyakarta.
Erma said that with the toll road from Tangerang, Jakarta, West Java and Exit in Central Java. Fuel consumption is also more economical.
Ahead of Lebaran 2019 Mudik Flow, the Government, through the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing, has been wary of a number of congestion-prone points on the Trans-Java Toll Road.
There are three points of concern as traffic jams, namely Cikampek Utama, Kalikangkung and Kartosuro-Solo toll gates.
In these three places, additional substations have been started to be able to accommodate high vehicle volume surges. This is expected, the transaction process can be faster, which is 3-4 seconds per vehicle.
In addition to installing additional substations, Danang said another strategy was to regulate the smooth running of the Eid 2019 homecoming process such as the enactment of a 15 percent discount on toll rates on May 27-29 and June 10-12, and enforced traffic management during the peak flow back and forth with a one-way system and contra flow.
The Public Communication Bureau of the PUPR Ministry also said: In addition to the congestion point, the government also anticipates the balance of less e-toll travelers by providing special toll booths for casd payments and e-toll top-up substations.
Not only in special substations, travelers can also fill e-toll by using a smartphone that features near field communication (NFC).
Surely with the existence of the connecting line, of course the travelers do not need to worry about the issue of congestion, because the government continues to strive so that the community can enjoy improved infrastructure.
)* The author is an observer of public transportation